New lender Ignite Funding Partners appoints chief commercial partner

Newly launched Ignite Funding Partners (Ignite) has appointed Mike Hackett (pictured above) as chief commercial partner.

Mike will lead the team originating and completing financing for acquisitions, buyouts, refinancings and growth with loans between £1m and £25m.

He will also strategically lead new product and lending strategies and oversee Ignite’s marketing function.

Mike has nearly 30 years of experience in banking and alternative lending.

He joins Ignite from a COO position at ThinCats and was a member of the executive team which led its sale to Shawbrook.

Before ThinCats, he was head of business development for corporate and commercial banking for the North of England at Santander, and at RBS, he led the trading, real estate and healthcare teams across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Ravi Anand, founder and managing partner of Ignite Funding Partners, commented: “Mike and I worked closely together scaling ThinCats into a top two UK lender.

“He has extensive experience in turning a strong proposition and credit expertise into a steady flow of quality transactions, and leading teams to deliver key business objectives.

“Mike will be a key member of Ignite’s Exco team, ensuring Ignite is poised to be in front of the right businesses from day one.”

Mike added: “Advisers, sponsors and management teams want two things from a lender: communication and reliability.

“We are committed to being long-term partners to the businesses we support.

“I’m excited to keep challenging the status quo in SME lending, backing strong management teams with the right funding to drive UK growth and entrepreneurship.”